The biggest spike in deaths in Scotland this century has raised concerns about how hospitals and care services are able to cope.

In the first four weeks of this year more people died in Scotland than in any month since January 2000 and the figure is the second highest recorded in 28 years. Official figures show that 7,552 deaths were registered in Scotland in January, 1,909 more than the same month last year and 2,018 more than the average number of deaths in January over the past five years.

When waiting times soared in accident and emergency departments in January, the Scottish government blamed flu but researchers have ruled this out. They looked at a similar spike in deaths in England and say it cannot…